Red Cross Home Fire Safety Campaign

Our goal with this campaign is to reduce the number of fire deaths and injuries.

Posted September 15, 2014, Denver, CO

The American Red Cross is partnering with local fire departments and other organizations in an ambitious multi-year campaign to save lives that are lost to preventable causes like fires, disasters, choking, and cardiac arrest and to improve the resilience of the social safety net in the face of disasters.

Home Fire Preparedness Campaign 2014 is the kick-off of that multi-year, two-prong preparedness strategy for the American Red Cross. In Colorado the campaign will begin early in anticipation of the approach of cold weather and the need for home heating. In the United States seven times a day, someone dies in a home fire. Every 40 minutes, an injury from a fire is reported. Nearly 1,000 times every day, fire departments are called to home fires.

“We know that as winter approaches people will be using auxiliary heat sources,” said Gino Greco, CEO for the Red Cross Colorado and Wyoming Region. “Our goal with this campaign is to reduce the number of fire deaths and injuries.”

Data shows that working smoke alarms can double someone’s chance of surviving a fire. With that data in mind the strategy is to go door-to-door in vulnerable communities, complete a home-safety checklist and in some cases install free smoke alarms or arrange for later installation.

Red Cross volunteers along with our partners and local fire departments will be canvassing in the locations listed below:

The Home Fire Preparedness Campaign 2014 is designed to improve and save lives across the United States. The ultimate goal is to reduce home-fire related deaths across the country by twenty-five percent in the next three years.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org/colorado, or join our blog at http://coloradoredcross.blogspot.com.